Lewis Young

19 disposals, eight marks, five rebound 50s

“’Lewy’ was again a strong intercept player. He read the flight of the ball really well and managed to have an influence in the air. The compliment to both him and Buku, as our key defenders, was that they were trying to bypass Coburg’s forwards. They were both important in kickstarting our ball movement from turnovers.” 

Easton Wood

13 disposals, four marks

“’Woody’ started in fantastic form – his intercept marking and ball-use was great in helping us move the ball forward. Unfortunately he hurt his ankle just before half-time though, which put an end to his game.” 

Rhylee West

24 disposals, four marks, five clearances, five inside 50s, one goal

“’Westy’ shared his time between the midfield and up forward, and definitely had more influence as a midfielder. In a game where we got shaded on contested possession, he was really important when he was around the ball.” 

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

14 disposals, five marks, three tackles, one goal

“Jamarra had a tough day – obviously there isn’t a week that goes by where the opposition isn’t making it hard for him. He kept on competing in the air, and also joined in at ground level by laying some tackles to try and keep the ball forward to create scoring opportunities. For only his second game in quite some time – the conditioning effect from some of these games will really help him out over the next few weeks.”

Buku Khamis

18 disposals, six marks, six rebound 50s

“Buku had a strong aerial presence – his ability to help out in the air was good. The difference between him and ‘Lewy’ was that he brought more speed and more run, which helped us to get going. It was him and ‘Lewy’ turning the tide on most of Coburg’s entries.” 

Ben Cavarra

20 disposals, four marks, three clearances, five inside 50s, two goals

“Ben played some midfield time this week and also some time forward. He was influential in both areas of the ground. He obviously kicked a couple of goals but was also important for us with his energy and his speed when playing through the midfield and at centre bounces.”

Dom Bedendo

16 disposals, five marks, one goal

“Dom played mostly forward, but we also introduced him to a supportive midfield role, where there was a lot of learning opportunities for him. He had some nice connections to forwards when he had the ball in hand, and is continuing to understand the game – when to go fast, when to have composure.” 

Pat Lipinski

29 disposals, three tackles, five clearances

“Patty was really dour in his work-rate. He also got tagged, so for him to play out the game under those pressures and still be a significant possession-winner and clearance player, was really good. We just need to learn to help tagged players a bit better and distract the taggers from their job. Pat was terrific though.” 

Lachie McNeil

18 disposals, six marks, five tackles, four inside 50s, one goal

“Lachie was very good – he played on the wing and forward, and used his speed to put real pressure on the opposition. He was one of our players with a higher tackle count, which was terrific to see a guy with speed wanting to use that asset to defend as well.”

Will Hayes

27 disposals, four marks, nine inside 50s

“’Hayesy’ played as a winger and half-back - because this was a turnover game and had not a lot of stoppage, he was able to use his strength which is his running, to get up and back. He worked just as hard in the defensive side of his game, to join in our attack too which was good.”

Jordon Sweet

13 disposals, nine tackles, four clearances, 30 hit-outs

“Jordon was terrific. We didn’t get quite as much of a clearance advantage as we would’ve liked from his dominant ruck display, but the big improvement for Jordon was his follow-up work – he also laid nine tackles which is an incredible work-rate for a ruckman. Many of these tackles weren’t in area either; they were in the open field where he was running hard to help the team defend.” 

On some of the VFL-listed players…

“Nathan Drummond played his first game of the year at half-back. He was very good, even finishing with two goals while playing in defence – having had some injury setbacks it was great to have him back in the team. Unfortunately Charlie Cormack copped a fracture in his leg, and unfortunately Austin Hodge played the second half with a broken hand so we were quite depleted. Robbie McComb continued his good form too, showing his willingness and impressing us with his appetite to defend just as much as when we’re in possession of the ball.”